This handbook has only just been started. It's currently a rather bare outline. Please edit it and make it better! Look at the [http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ FreeBSD Handbook] as a style guide.

This handbook has only just been started. It's currently a rather bare outline. Please edit it and make it better! Look at the [http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ FreeBSD Handbook] as a style guide.

Line 11:

Line 12:

Arch linux is a lightweight and flexible linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Arch linux is a lightweight and flexible linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

There are official packages optimized for the i686 and x86-64 architectures. There is also a community-operated package repository.

There are official packages optimized for the i686 and x86-64 architectures. There is also a community-operated package repository.

−

See the pages in [[:Category: About Arch (English)|this category]]

+

See the pages in [[:Category:About Arch|this category]]

=== Installing Arch Linux ===

=== Installing Arch Linux ===

−

There are two types of install CD. The CORE CD holds the packages required to get a basic system running. The FTP CD pulls the latest packages from the repositories during the install. Both CDs have NCURSES installers. There are the following steps:

+

The full install guide is [[Installation Guide|here]] and the install CDs are available [https://www.archlinux.org/download/ here]. If you would like a more detailed installation guide, please see the [[Beginners' Guide]].

−

#Loading a non-US Keymap

−

#Running Setup

−

#Configure Network (FTP Install only)

−

#Prepare Hard Drive

−

##Auto-Prepare

−

##Partition Hard Drives

−

##Set Filesystem Mountpoints

−

#Select Packages

−

#Install Packages

−

#Configure System

−

#Install Kernel

−

#Install Bootloader

−

#Exit Install

−

−

The full install guide is [[Official Arch Linux Install Guide|here]] and the install CDs are available [http://www.archlinux.org/download/ here]. If you would like a more detailed installation guide, please see the [[Beginners Guide|Beginners' Guide]].

=== Linux Basics ===

=== Linux Basics ===

Line 42:

Line 28:

cd /etc/pacman.d

cd /etc/pacman.d

−

'''How to make a Directory:'''

+

'''How to make a directory:'''

mkdir /path/to/new/directory

mkdir /path/to/new/directory

Line 50:

Line 36:

mkdir /home/archuser/newfolder

mkdir /home/archuser/newfolder

−

'''How to remove an (empty) directory:'''

+

'''How to remove an empty directory:'''

rmdir /path/to/empty/directory

rmdir /path/to/empty/directory

−

'''How to remove a non-empty directory:'''

+

'''How to remove a directory and all its content:'''

−

rmdir --ignore-fail-on-non-empty /path/to/non_empty/directory

+

rm -r /path/to/directory

−

'''How to List files in a directory:'''

+

'''How to list files in a directory:'''

−

All Files: (except hidden files)

+

All files: (except hidden files)

ls

ls

Line 100:

Line 86:

cat /path/to/file.txt

cat /path/to/file.txt

−

'''How to make a File/Script Executable:'''

+

'''How to make a file executable:'''

chmod +x /path/to/script.sh

chmod +x /path/to/script.sh

Line 119:

Line 105:

−

'''How to Show How much Space is Left/used on (all mounted) partitions:'''

+

'''How to show how much space is left/used on (all mounted) partitions:'''

df -h

df -h

−

How to show all running processes:

+

'''How to show all running processes:'''

ps -A

ps -A

Line 135:

Line 121:

man ultracompressor

man ultracompressor

−

=== Installing Software: Pacman ===

+

=== Installing, removing, updating and managing software: pacman ===

−

Some basics on Pacman options, how repositories work, etc.

+

See [[pacman]].

−

−

Pacman is the Arch Linux package management tool. It is a command line tool which provides an easy way to install and manage applications, libraries and other software. It is extremely easy to use and powerful, and will be one of the main administrative tools you will use while running Arch Linux.

−

The main operations are

−

pacman -S app # install package named app

−

pacman -Syu # update package database and upgrade any packages

−

pacman -R app # remove package name app

−

−

To get a full list of operations pacman can perform, open a terminal and type:

Now that you've found a package it's time to install it. Choose any package you're interested

−

in and type the following in your console:

−

−

# pacman -S muparser

−

resolving dependencies...

−

looking for inter-conflicts...

−

−

Targets: muparser-1.28-1

−

−

Total Download Size: 0.15 MB

−

−

Proceed with installation? [Y/n]

−

−

Pacman will check for dependencies and if all is good proceed to download required packages.

−

Once all files are downloaded Pacman will proceed to install them. While installing the software

−

Pacman might print messages during installation. It's VERY important that you read these

−

messages as they usually contain important information about the software you're installing.

−

−

(!) Note: Remember to read any messages printed by Pacman during installation, they are printed

−

for a reason and should be considered essential reading. Please don't forget! (!)

−

−

=== Removing software ===

−

−

So you've decided to remove a package from the system. Again Pacman will happily do this for

−

you and also remove any non-explicitly (dependencies) installed packages as well. Pacman will

−

obviously not remove depdencies if they are required by other packages, but if you want that

−

Pacman can do that as well.

−

−

To remove a particular package and any dependencies no longer needed type the following in a

−

console:

−

−

sh$ pacman --remove --recursive muparser

−

−

Pacman will remove any files belonging to the specified package and potential dependencies. It's

−

important to understand that some files might remain on the system even after removing the

−

package. There might for example be configuration files left in your home-folder and Pacman

−

will NOT remove these files.

−

−

=== Updating software ===

−

−

Pacman will obviously not only install and remove software packages but also help you maintain

−

the ones you have installed on your system. Keeping software up-to-date is useful for many

−

reasons such as removing security vulnerabiltiies, bugs and perhaps even adding more

−

functionality.

−

−

Before proceeding with any package updating you should first ensure that you have the most

−

recent snapshop of currently available packages. This is done through a simple command to

−

Pacman. Type the following in your console:

−

−

sh$ pacman --sync --refresh

−

−

Pacman will connect to each repository and update, if necessary, information about available

−

software packages. Once Pacman has updated your respositories it's time to check if you've

−

got any outdated packages that may be upgraded to a later version.

−

−

Generally you'll want to update the entire system in one go, but we'll first walk through the

−

steps of updating just one package. To find out what packages may be updated we'll use Pacman

−

to query the package database. In a console type the following:

−

−

sh$ pacman --query --upgrades

−

−

Choose a package you'd like to update and type the following in a console:

−

−

sh$ pacman --sync <package_to_upgrade>

−

−

Confirm the procedure and Pacman will begin downloading new packages and any necessary

−

dependencies. Should you want to avoid updating of dependencies you'd also want to add

−

--nodeps (or -d).

−

−

Clearly this is not a particularily quick and efficient way of updating your entire system,

−

especially if you've got more than ten available package updates. Pacman does solve this

−

problem as well so keep reading and you'll learn how you can update your entire system

−

in just one command.

−

−

=== Updating the entire system ===

−

−

If you've not already run your repository update, please do so now. (In case you don't remember:

−

pacman --sync --refresh) In a console type the following:

−

−

sh$ pacman --sync --sysupgrade

−

−

Pacman will now begin a possibly lengthy process of downloading and updating your entire

−

system. Depending on things such as download speed, processor power it might take anything from

−

a few seconds to a half an hour. Not too bad considering your entire system will be completely

−

updated after it finishes.

−

−

(!) Note: During installation Pacman might print messages on the screen. It's VERY important

−

that you do not ignore these messages as they are printed for a reason. Read them, please!

−

If you don't understand the meaning of them, write them down and use ask the forum for help. (!)

−

−

Sometimes Pacman may update important packages that contain updates to some of your configuration

−

files in for example /etc. It's important to always keep an eye out for .pacnew files in this

−

folder. Pacman will only produce these files (.pacnew/.pacsave) if you've made any changes to

−

the files being updated. If no changes have been made Pacman will automatically replace the old

−

files with the new ones. We'll talk more about this in a later chapter.

−

−

=== Summary ===

−

−

This chapter introduced you to some of the basic functionality of Pacman. There is much more

−

functionality in Pacman and we've only really scratched the surface. If you'd like a more

−

thorough description of all the options Pacman provide we recommend reading the man pages for

−

Pacman(8).

−

Hopefully this chapter have demonstrated some of the Pacman power and why it makes Arch Linux

+

=== Graphical Desktop Environments ===

−

a powerful, yet simple Linux distribution. In the next chapter we'll talk about how to various

+

{{Graphical user interface overview}}

−

aspects of Arch Linux. See you there!

== Common Tasks ==

== Common Tasks ==

Line 391:

Line 141:

=== Configuration and Tuning ===

=== Configuration and Tuning ===

−

A lot of the configuration of Arch is done in /etc/rc.conf. This may sound daunting , but it is well commented and allows you to set modules for auto-loading and blacklisting, along with daemons and some network configuration.

+

[[Systemd]] is used for most administrative tasks.

−

Details on some common configuration (init, cron).

=== Users and Basic Account Management ===

=== Users and Basic Account Management ===

Creating and managing users with command-line utilities.

Creating and managing users with command-line utilities.

−

Users are created with <code>adduser</code>. Users must also be added to [[groups]] to make them useful.

+

Users are created with <code>useradd</code>. See [[Users and Groups]] for more information.

== Networking ==

== Networking ==

Line 408:

Line 157:

=== Firewalls ===

=== Firewalls ===

−

Basic firewall concepts, how to use iptables.

+

See [[Firewalls]], [[iptables]], [[Simple Stateful Firewall]].

Revision as of 10:19, 26 August 2013

This article or section is out of date.

Reason:please use the first argument of the template to provide a brief explanation. (Discuss in Talk:Arch Handbook#)

Notice

This handbook has only just been started. It's currently a rather bare outline. Please edit it and make it better! Look at the FreeBSD Handbook as a style guide.

Most sections should be a summary, with a link to the main article on the subject.

Getting Started

Introduction

Arch linux is a lightweight and flexible linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.
There are official packages optimized for the i686 and x86-64 architectures. There is also a community-operated package repository.
See the pages in this category

Installing Arch Linux

The full install guide is here and the install CDs are available here. If you would like a more detailed installation guide, please see the Beginners' Guide.

Linux Basics

A few basics on the file system and command line, for people starting Unix/Linux with Arch.